An effect pedal that recreates the Grampian Reverberation Unit Type 636 Pete Townshend used as a saturation tool.
It all started on a lazy Sunday, surfing through YouTube
looking for some old footage of The Who, when we
stumbled on some clips of The Who playing at the
Marquee Club in 1967. Despite the raw energy of those
four young men, what really caught our attention was a
weird device with a flashing light sitting on top of Pete
Townshend’s Marshall amps.
After some research we found out that between ‘66
and ‘67, Pete Townshend had several Grampian 636
Spring Reverb units in his arsenal and he used them as a
saturation tool, cranking his Marshall amps to the limit to
get his groundbreaking tone.
As it is quoted on an interview in 1967:
“I use a Granpiene [sic] reverb unit for distortion; it gives a
kind of clear fuzz dirge. I like a slightly broken guitar sound.”
Even though it was intended as a studio reverb unit, Pete
used the built-in preamp of the 636 to fatten his tone and
boost the guitar signal, bypassing the reverb altogether.
Since Pete used it for a short period of time, it ended up
forgotten and only the erudite of The Who knew the story
of the 636.
With that amazing story on the table, it was clear it could
be something for Aclam’s team to work on! So, we were
really decided to create a pedal version of the 636 preamp
but we had a slight problem, we had never tried one. So,
in order to recreate it to the finest detail we began our
search for an original unit that we could reverse engineer.
After many months we managed to get our hands on
an original Grampian unit! It was in a great shape and
sounded amazing!
As soon as we strummed the first chords with the original
636, we found the combination of Grampian, old Marshall
stack and single coils to be pure magic. It enhanced the
amp’s natural saturation with a fatter, sweeter tone.
However, we felt the vintage 636 was less impressive
when used with other types of amps and pickups, specially
humbuckers. Because of that, we challenged ourselves to
make this preamp sound beautiful no matter what amp or
pickup you use, managing to eventually tweak the circuit
to extend its frequency range and include eq controls
while retaining its unique tone. The treble response has
been refined by adding a Hi-Cut control which allows you
to add a sweet sparkle to muddy humbuckers or tame
brighter single coils, as well as a Lo-Cut knob to control
bass content better, so the player can decide the tightness
of the resultant tone.
Another thing we achieved was to refine its background
noise. The vintage Grampian has a remarkable hiss,
especially when the Aux Channel was used (Townshend’s
choice). Chapter two of the Windmiller designing process
was to eliminate that hiss whilst maintaining the character
and behavior of the original Grampian 636 preamp. After
experimenting with a great variety of components and
fine-tuning the circuit to make it as quiet as possible, we
finally succeeded!
And finally, in order to pay tribute to the last detail,
we’ve included the overload indicator lamp found on the
Grampian 636, which is sensitive to your playing and
responsive to your attack, and you may agree with us,
looks really cool!
The result is a versatile pedal that can be used as an
'always on' preamp with a beautiful color, a booster for
solo parts, or a tool to saturate and enhance the amp's
natural overdrive.
As part of the circuit’s adaptation to a pedal unit, we have
put an extra effort to make The Windmiller Preamp as quiet
as possible, you almost can’t tell it’s on even at full gain! In
addition, we have made the circuit a bit brighter, so you have
a greater frequency spectrum on higher frequencies.
HI. CUT AND LO. CUT TONE SHAPING CONTROLS:
To make The Windmiller Preamp more versatile we have
included tone cut controls for high and low frequencies,
which are extremely useful when using on different amps
and guitars. Single coils, humbuckers, El84’s, 6l6’s...
It will match any rig!
PREAMP OR CLEAN BOOSTER? IT’S UP TO YOU!:
Due to its low input impedance The Windmiller Preamp
will react in different ways depending on the signal source
you connect it to. Plug it straight to your guitar before
any other device and you will be delighted by its unique
coloring. Put it after a buffer and you will get a super
transparent and linear booster with the addition of the Lo
Cut and Hi Cut controls!
OVERLOAD INDICATOR LAMP:
We couldn’t resist ourselves to put this cool feature of
the original Grampian 636 thus it will be very useful as a
signal monitor!
CIRCUIT TAILORED FOR BOTH BASS AND GUITAR
INSTRUMENTS:
Since the Grampian 636 was designed as a studio tool
you can use The Windmiller Preamp with any kind of
instrument. Guitar, bass, keys... you are the limit!
TRUE BYPASS RELAY SWITCHING:
We have incorporated a soft touch switch activated relay
switching system so, even in the quietest situation you
won’t bother the audience and band-members with click
or clack noises. And obviously like all our pedals it is true
bypass to ensure signal integrity.
SMART TRACK® FASTENING SYSTEM:
All our pedals use a custom enclosure designed to
perfectly match our Smart Track® pedalboards. Using
the side thumb screws you’ll be able to lock safely the
stompbox into one of our pedalboards.
It was also designed to fit the other pedalboard options in
the market.
Dimensions: 13,6 x 8,7 x 5,5cm (5,4” x 3,4” x 2,2”) with knobs
Bypass: Relay True bypass
Power requirements: 9V DC Center Negative 100mA minimum
Current draw: ≈38 mA